


We started this thing together, and that’s how we’ll finish it

by silvermoongirl10



Series: The difference between victory and defeat [1]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: 4+1 fic, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angry Echo, Angst, Background Character Death, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo & CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives are Twins, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo Lives, CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo Needs a Hug, CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives is a Good Bro, Control Chips, Domino Squad (Star Wars) - Freeform, Echo is giving Fives grey hair at this point, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fives has kind of pushed it too far this time, Gen, Grief/Mourning, Hurt/Comfort, Mentioned Obi-Wan Kenobi/CC-2224 | Cody, Protective CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo, Protective CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives, The Citadel, This does follow canon to some extent I am afraid, Umbara Arc (Star Wars: Clone Wars), Worried Fives, Wounded Echo, so Hevy Cutup and Droidbait still die I'm afraid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-20
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-03-11 04:54:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 16,810
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28199454
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/silvermoongirl10/pseuds/silvermoongirl10
Summary: 'He had been decanted five minutes before CT-21-0408 and 99 had paired them together, leaving Fives to develop a protective attitude when it came to CT-21-0408.'Fives has always felt protective of his little brother, Echo. And has promised to himself to always watch out for his vod'ika.4 times Fives has had Echo's back, and the 1 time Echo had Fives's back in return. Throughout training, the Rishi outpost attack, the Citadel, Umbara and the control chips.(Set during the Clone Wars.)
Relationships: CT-21-0408 | CT-1409 | Echo & CT-27-5555 | ARC-5555 | Fives
Series: The difference between victory and defeat [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2065761
Comments: 25
Kudos: 56
Collections: Echo&Fives





	1. Training

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was originally writing a series for Codywan getting a happy ending ([Exists in a delicate balance](https://archiveofourown.org/series/1978357/)), but then as Echo and Fives featured in that series, I got ideas for a Fives and Echo spinoff series where they also get a happy ending. So, this series was born! I hope you enjoy this fic and the subsequent stories that will be in this series! (Two stories will be cross posted between this series and the original series, as they were originally planned to be in the Codywan series).
> 
> I tried to avoid making Hevy, Cutup and Droidbait seem horrible in this chapter. But in the episode where we see Domino squad training, I hated seeing how mean they were to Echo, so I decided to emulate that here so I could have protective big brother Fives (my favourite part of any Echo and Fives interaction in fics).
> 
> In this verse, Hevy Droidbait and Cutup all have chosen their names before finishing their training like Fives.

CT-21-0408 had hidden himself in his sleep pod, gritting his teeth as the biting comments from his batchmates and squad replayed around his head. To an outsider the comments probably looked like any other teasing comment brothers say to each other, but he recalled the bite to the words. His squad wasn’t teasing him. They had had enough of him and their patience had obviously run out.

_“Oh, look here comes the voice recorder.”_

_“Got any orders to repeat Echo?”_

_“Hey vod, don’t bother listening to our orders first time. Echo here will repeat them for us.”_

_“Don’t bother revising for the test. Echo here will just mumble the entire regulation manual to himself, we can just get the answers from him.”_

CT-21-0408 brought his hands up to cover his eyes and dug the palms of his hands into his eyes, as if he could force his squad’s words out of his head. A sound crossed between a keen and a groan slipped between his gritted teeth. He just wanted to play his part, he just wanted to pass the tests his squad seemed determine to fail because they just wouldn’t _listen_. He didn’t _want_ to quote from the manual, his squad should know what they could and couldn’t do by this point. He didn’t _want_ to repeat all the orders, but if he didn’t, the rest of Domino squad would just do what they wanted and they’d fail the tests because they all decided to do their own thing.

He jumped when his sleep pod opened and his bunk was pulled out into the bright white room, the light filtering between his fingers. Wearily he pulled his hands away from his face and looked up at his batchmate and squad mate Fives, as his brother had named himself. He didn’t say anything, just looked up at Fives blankly, not wanting to risk opening his mouth to speak, only to hear the mocking name Domino squad had given him. _Echo_.

“Are you okay brother?” asked Fives in concern, from his position of holding onto the ladder between the different pods.

CT-21-0408 didn’t know what to say. He was far from okay, reaching his breaking point with his squad. So, he shrugged the best he could lying on his back and stated, “fine.” There, he answered but with one word, he couldn’t possibly be ‘teased’ for being an echo.

Fives raised one eyebrow and looked down at him from the ladder with a look of disbelief. “Look, I know the others have started to go too far with the name calling-”

“Like you even care,” snapped CT-21-0408 in a fit of uncharacteristic behaviour. He sat up on his bunk, his legs dangling over the edge and stared at Fives daring him to disagree. Yes, Fives had only called him Echo once, but he had been one of the first to call him Echo and did nothing to stop the others.

Fives’ brown eyes widened in shock and then dimmed in shame. “I understand why you think I don’t care. But I _do_ ,” Fives stated earnestly.

CT-21-0408 wanted to believe him, he really did. He and Fives had been close when they were younger cadets, but then training kicked in and he started repeating orders and quoting the manual. He missed his brother. He and Fives used to talk, laugh and use their limited free time to play games. But a rift had been growing and CT-21-0408 found himself feeling cast off and adrift, wondering if there was any point to him staying in Domino squad. Maybe he could transfer, even if it was to the cleaning crew with 99. At least his older brother never ‘teased’ him about his tendency of repeating orders and quoting from the regulation manual.

CT-21-0408 just shrugged again, “if you say so.” He then heard the rest of their squad walking towards them. Rather than facing the others, CT-21-0408 pulled his feet up onto his bunk and pushed the button that pulled his bunk back into the sleep pod. He decided to ignore the saddened look on Fives’ face. He didn’t want to upset his brother, but he didn’t have the energy or the inclination to deal with the other three.

* * *

Fives sighed as CT-21-0408’s sleep pod closed with a quiet click. Shame rose up within him, along with a healthy dose of guilt. He had called his brother Echo once as a joke, but Droidbait, Cutup and Hevy heard him and decided Echo was the _perfect_ name for their brother. Fives had tried to get them to stop, but they never listened. He had never been too forceful about the sharp comments and name calling, not wanting to create more tension within their squad. But seeing the defeated look in his little brother’s eyes, Fives had reached his boiling point. He had been decanted five minutes before CT-21-0408 and 99 had paired them together, leaving Fives to develop a protective attitude when it came to CT-21-0408. His little brother who was always met with biting comments when he asked to not be called Echo. Choosing a name was a personal experience, as clones they didn’t get to call much their own, at least they could choose their _own_ names. But CT-21-0408 was getting stuck with Echo. Even other squads were calling him that, believing it was a name he picked, not one his squad were bullying him with.

As Fives climbed down the ladder, CT-21-0408’s defeated brown eyes etched into his mind, he became determined to ensure the other three understood that they had to stop calling CT-21-0408 Echo unless he chose the name _himself_.

“Hey Fives, where’s our resident Echo?” smirked Hevy, Cutup and Droidbait chuckled in agreement as their eyes flickered up to where CT-21-0408’s sleep pod was.

Anger surged up within Fives, so he grabbed Hevy by the shoulders and he flung him around so he could push him up against the lockers harshly. His three brothers letting out shocked exclamations at Fives’s surprised behaviour as Hevy’s back collided with the lockers with a crash.

“Woah! Fives!”

“What are you doing?”

“What’s your problem Fives?” snapped Hevy, his voice a quiet gasp as the air was forced out of his lungs.

“Don’t say that name again,” snarled Fives, he leaned his face towards Hevy so he could look Hevy in the eye.

Hevy’s eyes narrowed. “Seriously, _that_ is what this is about? It’s just a _name_ Fives.”

Fives pushed more of his weight against Hevy’s shoulders, his right arm pressed across his brother’s throat, causing Hevy to gasp in response. “It’s not _just_ a name. Our names are the _only_ things we can claim ownership over and you have _taken_ that away from CT-21-0408. You are no better than the Kaminoans.”

“I am _nothing_ like the long-necks,” spat Hevy. His face creased in disgust at the mere thought of being compared to the long-necks. However, Fives didn’t care if Hevy took offense at being compared to the Kaminoans, Hevy had been upsetting CT-21-0408 too long for Fives to care about Hevy’s feelings.

“You expect me to care if your feelings were hurt being compared to the long-necks?” taunted Fives, his lips pulled back in a sneer. “This is nothing to what you have done to CT-21-0408.” Fives leaned back and slowly released Hevy, he then fixed each of his brothers with a sharp glare. “If I find out you three are continuing to hassle CT-21-0408, I will make your lives miserable. Just as you’ve done to CT-21-0408.”

Droidbait shifted uneasily on his feet, he then took a cautious step towards Fives. “Does it really bother Ec… I mean CT-21-0408 that we call him that?” he asked quietly.

Fives looked Droidbait in the eye with his arms crossed over his chest, “what do you think? How many times has CT-21-0408 asked you _not_ to call him Echo?” Droidbait flinched and looked down at his feet as his shoulders hunched forwards, guilt plastered across his face. Fives felt bad for upsetting the second youngest member of Domino squad, but he needed his three brothers to understand that they couldn’t continue to treat CT-21-0408 like they had been.

Droidbait then took a deep breath and looked Fives in the eye, determination shining in the deep brown eyes. “I’ll help you make sure everyone stops calling CT-21-0408 any name until he chooses his own.”

Fives smiled and nodded at his brother, “thank you vod.” He noticed Cutup nodding in agreement with Droidbait and Fives felt relief that at least two of his brothers were starting to see the errors of their ways. Fives then turned back to Hevy who was still leaning against the lockers, rubbing a hand over his throat. Fives raised an eyebrow at their oldest brother, almost daring Hevy to refuse to change his ways.

Hevy rolled his eyes, “fine I’ll stop calling him Echo.” Fives tensed at Hevy’s standoffish attitude, but took the promise of him not calling CT-21-0408 Echo anymore.

“You better not,” stated Fives firmly. He then turned away from his brothers and began walking out of the dormitories, not before flickering his gaze up towards CT-21-0408’s sleep pod.

* * *

CT-21-0408 didn’t know what had changed, but he knew something did. Suddenly, no one was calling him Echo anymore, Droidbait and Cutup just chatted to him about ordinary things, no comments on repeating orders or memorising the regulation manual, it was like how it had been before. Hevy didn’t really talk to him, which wasn’t out of the ordinary, but there was a distinct lack of biting comments directed at him. The brothers in other squads had also stopped calling him Echo, one brother from Alpha squad even came up to him and apologised for calling him Echo. “I’m so sorry for calling you that CT-21-0408, I had no idea it wasn’t a name you had chosen yourself,” the brother had turned and left before he could respond, leaving him stood in the corridor in a shocked silence.

As he sat with his squad in the refectory for dinner, he was half listening to the conversation, when he noticed Cutup was about to call him Echo before he stopped himself. CT-21-0408 would have shrugged it off, if it wasn’t for the fact, he noticed Fives smiling and nodding in approval between bites of his food. CT-21-0408 stared down at his plate, the pieces fitting together. _That_ was brought the change, Fives had obviously done something after their brief conversation. CT-21-0408 didn’t know what he felt about that, on the one hand he was relieved that there were no more biting comments, but on the other hand, he now felt like a small cadet that needed protecting. Someone who could not stand up for themselves. While Fives may have done what he did out of kindness, a part of CT-21-0408 wished his brother hadn’t bothered.

That evening during their hour of free time before lights out, CT-21-0408 made his way outside to the small alcove hidden on the domed roof he discovered when he was a small cadet with Fives. He sat huddled on the small flat metal part of the dome as he stared out at the stretch of rolling waves in front of him, his knees pulled up so he could rest his chin on his knees as he crossed his arms over his shins.

At the sound of approaching footsteps, he sighed as he turned his head slightly to his right. He just sat silently as Fives sat down beside him, also looking out at the blue-green sea in front of them. “Why did you do that?” asked CT-21-0408, when Fives sighed in response, CT-21-0408 knew his older brother had understood the question.

Fives leaned back on his hands; his legs stretched out in front of him. “I felt it was about time they realised they were upsetting you and that they respected your wishes not to be called Echo.”

CT-21-0408 stared out at the view in front of him, digging his chin into his knees. “I wish you didn’t. Now I look like I can’t stand up for myself. Like I’m _weak_.”

“Hey, _no one_ thinks that about you,” Fives stressed as he placed fingers under CT-21-0408’s chin so he could tilt CT-21-0408’s face towards him. “Vod’ika our squad should have known better from the start. But all the other squads have just assumed you were too nice to correct them. _No one_ thinks you are weak because I told them not to call you Echo.”

CT-21-0408 sighed and just stared back at Fives as he chewed on his bottom lip. “I don’t know why I care so much. I’m just a clone, what does it matter what I’m called? I was decanted with a _number_. I’m a clone. I don’t matter.” He jumped when a pair of hands landed on his shoulders and shook him firmly. He stared wide eyed at Fives’s brown eyes that were narrowed in anger.

“Don’t _ever_ say that again!” Snapped Fives as he leaned close to CT-21-0408. “We are _not_ just _clones_. We are all individuals that all happen to look alike. Yes, we were decanted with numbers, but what we call ourselves, the names we have. They are _our choices_. So, if you don’t like being called Echo, you won’t. If you want to call yourself…I don’t know…Shooter. That is _your_ choice.” Fives then squeezed CT-21-0408’s shoulders gently, before he moved one hand so it cupped the back of CT-21-0408’s head gently. “ _Never_ let _anyone_ take away your choices, even our own brothers. Do you hear me?”

CT-21-0408 stared back at Fives with wide eyes, but he nodded his head ever so slightly. Fives’s words swirling around his head. One word was suck on repeat. Choice. For the first time in a long time, CT-21-0408 saw himself as more than a clone, Fives was right, they were all individuals. They all had different personalities, that was highlighted by the names they chose for themselves. “I hear you,” he replied softly, with a small smile gracing his features.

Fives grinned and nodded in return, “good.” Fives then pulled CT-21-0408 closer so they were sat side by side, shoulders leaning against each other. As they looked out at the expanse of rolling waves in front of them, CT-21-0408 found himself smiling and leaned more of his weight against Fives. In response Fives pulled him closer and CT-21-0408 let his head tilt so he was able to rest his head on Fives’s shoulder. For the first time in a long time feeling at peace with himself.

* * *

The peace couldn’t last, something CT-21-0408 was well aware of. Despite Fives making him feel more at home within Domino squad, CT-21-0408 could feel the tension within the squad ratcheting up a notch, with the stress of passing tests prominent in all of their minds. Made worse by the fact they were _still_ not working as a cohesive group.

After another failed practice run, when Hevy and Cutup raced ahead of the group, leaving Droidbait to get stunned _again_ and leaving Fives and CT-21-0408 to at least try to follow and complete their original orders. CT-21-0408 found himself repeating their orders, in an attempt to get Hevy and Cutup to actually listen for _once_ in their lives.

So, it was with no surprise that the peace Fives had attempted to create in their squad was broken by familiar arguments. As the squad entered their area of the dormitories where their lockers were situated. CT-21-0408 closed his locker with a bit more force than usual as he watched as Fives and Hevy argued.

“Look, for Force sake Hevy, we will _not_ pass if you and Cutup always go off on your own! You need to listen to the kriffing orders!” snapped Fives as he slammed his locker shut.

Hevy rolled his eyes as he stepped forward and got in Fives’s face. “Oh, don’t you start turning into an Echo as well.”

CT-21-0408 felt himself stiffen at the old nickname, he noticed Cutup and Droidbait look warily between him, Fives and Hevy. Undoubtably waiting for either he or Fives to tell Hevy not to call him Echo. However, CT-21-0408 noticed his stomach didn’t twist anxiously at the nickname like it used to do, as Fives’s words about choices rang through his head.

The fed up look on Fives’s face turned into one of anger, but before Fives could snap something at Hevy and probably make the situation worse, CT-21-0408 stepped forward and gained the attention of his squad. “Well, if you would just listen to the orders then you wouldn’t be hearing an ‘echo’ now would you?” stated CT-21-0408, his voice firm as he looked Hevy in the eye.

Hevy slowly turned away from Fives and stared back at CT-21-0408 with a hard gaze. CT-21-0408 made sure he didn’t blink or look away like he used to before, he used to hate confrontation, but seeing Fives stand up to the squad gave CT-21-0408 the courage to also stand up for himself. Hevy’s hard look turned into a smirk as he titled his head towards Cutup and Droidbait, “can anyone else hear an Echo?”

Fives growled in anger, but CT-21-0408 held his ground, distantly aware of other squads edging closer to watch the argument. “If you weren’t trying to impress the instructors, trying to prove your ARC trooper material, you might actually have enough sense to listen to orders.” CT-21-0408 then crossed his arms and raised an unimpressed eyebrow at Hevy. “I am also wondering why you think ARC troopers would want a cadet who is too stubborn and thinks he knows it all to listen to basic orders.”

Hevy stepped closer to CT-21-0408 his brown eyes narrowed in frustration. “What was that? _Echo_.”

“Do you mind not making my name an insult? I wouldn’t do that to you _Hevy_ ,” retorted Echo. Looking over Hevy’s shoulder, Echo noticed the bright grin plastered over Fives’s face, a smug glint in his older brother’s brown eyes as he looked at the back of Hevy’s head. Echo met Hevy’s gaze evenly, “it seems our squad needs an ‘echo’ to make sure we all follow orders and actually pass the tests. Our names reflect who we are, and as I’m the one who memorises the manual and our orders, it seems fitting that my name is Echo, doesn’t it?” he asked with a smile and an absentminded shrug of his shoulders.

Hevy mumbled something under his breath as he turned away, his grumbling increasing when he noticed the gathered audience of other squads. All of whom were congratulating Echo on choosing his name. Fives rushed forward and drove the breath out of Echo’s lungs as he hugged him tightly. “You’ve chosen a name!” Fives exclaimed happily.

Echo leaned back and rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. “I mean…I sort of already had a name before,” he admitted, thinking back to all the times he had been called Echo before.

“But this time, you _chose_ your name. There’s a difference,” stated Fives, his eyes glinting with happiness.

“Thanks to you,” smiled Echo. “You made me realise that it was my choice. And I _like_ that I have a good memory for memorising things. So, Echo is a good name for me. I like it now.”

Fives smiled softly and then gently pulled Echo’s head forward so they could press their foreheads together. “I’m so proud of you Eyayah.”

Echo smiled and then buried his face in the crook of Fives’s neck, “thank you ori’vod.”

He felt his brother’s arms tighten around him as Fives hugged him. “Always vod’ika. I will _always_ be here for you Ey’ika.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 will focus on the aftermath of the Rishi moon.
> 
> Vod – brother  
> Ori’vod – big brother  
> Vod’ika – little brother  
> Eyayah – echo  
> Ey’ika – little echo, term of endearment


	2. Aftermath of the Rishi moon attack

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Christmas eve everyone! 🎄
> 
> Just a short chapter today, I hope you are still continuing to enjoy this fic!

Echo had never been so glad to be given a bunk that was put against a wall, especially as he had taken the bottom bunk. So, he curled up on his bunk facing the blank, cold, grey wall and fooled himself into thinking he was alone. Even though the soft breathing of his twin from the bunk above him indicated that Fives had not gone to the mess with the other men who bunked in the same bunkroom.

He was so tired and he just wanted to _rest_ , but his mind continued to run. Replaying every second of the attack on the Rishi moon and the deaths of his three brothers. Replaying every sight, every smell and every sound. He hadn’t seen the moments Droidbait and Hevy died, but he knew enough about the ways in which they died for his mind to conjure picture perfect visions of his brothers’ deaths. Yes, he and his brothers didn’t always get along, their making fun of him repeating orders certainly didn’t help any brotherly bonding moments. But they were his brothers and he had just _lost them_ in the span of one evening. Droidbait who was skilled at knowing the different types of droids and their strengths and weaknesses, Cutup who was the technical whizz of their squad and Hevy who was the expert on heavy guns and their natural leader. He couldn’t help but think that it would have been better for him to die in the place of one of the others, what use could he possibly be to the GAR? His only skill apart from just being an able-bodied soldier was repeating orders and memorising the reg manual. Nothing special.

He was thankful that Fives had survived the attack, he didn’t think he would cope if he had lost his older twin. That would have been a loss too much to bear. But Fives was also a credit to the GAR, he was able to think up plans quickly and seemed to be good at everything he set his mind to. Future ARC trooper material in Echo’s opinion. Not like Echo. Of their batch Fives had been left with the brother who was the most useless. What kind of burden had Fives been left with? Yes, it would have been better if Echo had died instead of one of the others, or even instead of all of them.

As the Resolute juddered its way through hyperspace, Echo dug the heels of his palms into his eyes, just trying to get some peace from his own mind. Wishing that his mind would just _stop_ replaying the attack over and over again. The Resolute may have taken his body far away from the smoky remains of the Rishi outpost, but his mind was still stuck there and he didn’t seem to be able to escape his memories any time soon.

Echo realised he must have made a noise, because he heard Fives shift around on the bed above his and a quiet voice asked into the still air of the bunkroom, “Echo? You alright?”

“Fine,” he choked out as he lowered his hands from his eyes and stared at the cold, impersonal wall in front of him. Cursing himself under his breath as he heard his voice waver. Fives moved again and Echo just listened to a pair of feet quietly land on the steel floor before he felt his twin curl up on his bunk behind him.

“I don’t know why I asked that,” commented Fives in a quiet voice, “because I know you’re not fine. Because I’m not fine either.” Echo bit his lips as he felt one of Fives’s arms encircle him in a half hug. He buried his face into his pillow and did his best to ignore the presence of his twin. Continuously thinking about what he had lost. “It’s okay to miss them Echo.”

Echo sucked in a sharp breath that whistled through his gritted teeth. “I should be fine. We’re taught to accept loss and move on. I didn’t even _like_ them half the time,” he stated, trying to keep his voice even and fool himself into believing his own words.

The arm around his waist tightened and he felt himself pulled backwards a few inches as Fives hugged his back closer to Fives’s chest. “I know they had their moments, but I also know you Echo. Despite what the manual says and what we were taught to accept, its okay to mourn them. They were our batchmates and our brothers. You can mourn Echo, it’s _okay_.” At his twins’ words, Echo felt his throat tighten and a sob ripped its way up and out of his throat, he sobbed into his pillow as his shoulders shook and as he clutched onto Fives’s hand with one of his own. “It’s alright vod’ika, I’m here,” murmured Fives as Echo felt himself moved around so that he was now facing Fives, as his twin tucked his face into the crook of Fives’s neck. Echo continued to sob as he felt Fives hug him tightly and with one hand run his fingers comfortingly through his dark hair.

 _Should have been me. Would have been better if I was the one to die_ , Echo thought to himself. Suddenly, his head was titled back and he was met with the sight of Fives’s brown eyes alight with anger, he felt his twins’ hands grip his shoulders tightly. Then with a sinking feeling in his stomach, Echo realised he had just spoken aloud.

“ _What_ are you _saying_?!” Fives demanded in a harsh whisper shout. Echo winced when he felt his brother’s fingers digging into his shoulders. “Why are you _even_ thinking like that?”

Echo stared at one of the other bunks he could see over Fives’s shoulder. “It’s the truth,” he mumbled. He knew it wasn’t what Fives wanted to hear, but he had never been able to lie to his twin and he knew lying right now would go down worse than admitting the truth.

“It is _not the truth_ ,” hissed Fives. “That is so _far away_ from the truth, it would _not_ have been better if you had died.” Echo jumped hearing Fives’s voice crack and fade away on the last word. He moved his eyes away from the bunk he had been staring at and met the stricken gaze of his twin, the brown eyes of his twin shined with unshed tears and a devasted look was painted across Fives’s face.

“But I’m nothing special. I just memorise rules, regulations and orders. The others…they had far more useful skills than me,” Echo quietly confessed as he brushed away the tears silently slipping down his twin’s face. Even in the depths of his own misery, he hated to see his twin so upset.

“But you _are_ special,” countered Fives fiercely. “We have all been cloned from the same person, but your memory…Ey’ika your memory is the best out of _all of us_.” Fives moved his hands so he could cup the back of Echo’s head and he titled Echo’s head back so he could lean their foreheads together. “I would be lost without you, I used to get swept up in Hevy’s plans that I would rush ahead with him. But when you started repeating our orders, I realised how much I needed _you_.” Fives smiled at Echo despite the tears still slipping down his cheeks. “I know you will _always_ be there to guide me, so if you need me to remind you how important you are, _I will_.”

Echo frowned dubiously as he rested his hands on Fives’s shoulders, “you’d be just fine without me.”

Fives shook his head, his lips twitching with a sad smile. “No. I’d be so far from fine; it wouldn’t be a word I would recognise, Ey’ika. You are my vod’ika and I need _you_.” Echo felt himself lightening at Fives’s words, but a part of him still wondered if he was really as important as Fives said he was.

“I might need you to remind of that,” Echo quietly confessed, as he loosely gripped Fives’s blacks with his hands.

Fives’s smile widened, “I will _always_ remind you how important you are to me Ey’ika. I will _never_ leave you behind, because I will _always_ need my vod’ika by my side.”

Echo buried his face back in the crook of Fives’s neck and held onto his twin’s shoulders as let his brother’s words sink in. He was _wanted_. He was _needed_. And most importantly, his ori’vod had his back, just as he always had. Exhaustion swept through Echo, and he felt himself _finally_ grow tired as his shoulders loosened. His eyes flickered shut as he buried himself even closer to Fives’s chest and smiled when he felt his twin hug him tightly in return and felt Fives nuzzle his face against Echo’s dark hair.

A little while later, when their new Captain entered the bunkroom to check on his newest troopers. They were both too deeply asleep to see the soft smile on the Captain’s face. Also no one was there to see Rex take the blanket from Fives’s bunk and gently tuck the Domino twins in. And if Rex lingered a few seconds, a smile on his face, as he observed the sleeping troopers, as they snuffled in their sleep. Well, no one was there to say if he did or not. And if asked, the troopers of the 501st would say it wasn’t true. They knew their Captain cared about them all, but he was a Captain. He didn’t go around tucking his troopers in under their blankets.

But as Rex left the bunkroom with quiet steps. The Domino twins found their dreams were peaceful and no trace of the horrors they had witnessed even entered their dreams. It was as if their three brothers who had marched on were protecting their dreams. Fives rested easy knowing his little brother was curled up safe in his arms, while Echo rested easy knowing his big brother would always be there for him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be focused around the mission to the Citadel.  
> Vod'ika – little brother  
> Ey'ika – term of endearment of the Mando'a name for Echo, little Echo.  
> Ori'vod - big brother


	3. The Citadel

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy Boxing Day everyone! (If you aren't aware of what Boxing Day is, its basically an excuse to either have a second Christmas dinner for a second day running, or use up your leftovers. Basically, I'm posting this in the midst of a food coma.)
> 
> I hope you enjoy this newest chapter. This chapter is based on a reference I made in chapter five of [Everything the Light Touches](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27106777/chapters/66191191/) a story in my Codywan series.

“We need to get to the shuttle!” exclaimed Echo as he moved around Fives and picked up a fallen shield from a droid they had already shot down. On instinct Fives started firing at the droids to give cover for Echo. Movement caught his attention and Fives felt his stomach and chest tighten when a commando droid jumped onto one of the guns and aim it at the shuttle. The shuttle Echo was running towards.

 _“Echo!_ ” He yelled desperately, forcing his feet to move forward in his shock. Fives reached out a hand as if he would be able to pull his twin back to safety. His heart pounded in his chest as he was helpless as Echo stood defiantly on the ramp to the shuttle, firing at the enclosing commando droids, just as the commando droid fired at the shuttle. “ _ECHO!_ ”

The force of the explosion knocked Fives backwards and he landed heavily on his back, driving the air out of his lungs. The sounds of battle faded away as the roaring of his blood in his ears blocked everything else out. He found himself looking up at the night sky through the tinted eye view of his helmet, he clenched his eyes shut, feeling them sting with unshed tears. The pain in his chest was excruciating, but it wasn’t pain from an injury. The pain came from just watching as his little brother, his batchmate, his _twin_ had just been killed in front of him. Fives opened his eyes and forced himself to his feet just as the sound of his blood in his ears faded away, allowing the sounds of the roaring flames of the shuttle remains and blaster bolts to rush in.

With dread weighing down his limbs, Fives walked forward a few steps, his gaze locked onto the flaming remains of the shuttle. He stopped, his throat tight, as his gaze flickered down as his attention was captured by Echo’s helmet. It was innocently laying on its side, the two blue lines reminding Fives of Echo only adjusting his original helmet design for his new ARC trooper helmet, he remembered Echo’s smile, the pride shining in his brown eyes when he had been given his new armour, marking him as an ARC trooper. The previously pristine white and blue helmet was streaked with soot. Telling Fives all he needed to know. His knees almost buckled as a soft, grief-stricken keening sound was ripped from his throat. Fives was thankful for his helmet; it would cover the broken expression on his face. It was only his training that kept him on his feet. When all he wanted was to collapse on the ground and scream and cry at the loss of his twin. It was his loyalty to Rex, Cody, General Kenobi and General Skywalker that kept him from walking aimlessly towards the Separatists, all he wanted was to join his brother. But he knew Echo would never forgive him for giving up so easily. So, with a shaky hand, Fives leaned down and picked up Echo’s helmet, the only part of his twin he could take away from the Citadel.

Fives jumped when Rex shook his shoulder violently while calling his name, “Fives! Pay attention! _Fives!_ ” He ripped his shoulder out of Rex’s grasp.

“I hear you,” he growled. He stared at Rex’s helmet; Echo’s grasped tightly in his hand. An illogical part of him internally raging at Rex, where had Rex been? He was their Captain, why wasn’t he there to give orders? Why did he let Echo rush ahead?

“Master! We need to go, _now_ ,” called General Skywalker, interrupting Fives’s internal struggle. Fives flickered his gaze over to his General and then his heart stopped. General Skywalker was kneeling beside General Kenobi who was also knelt on the floor, but was supporting an ARC trooper who was shakily getting to his feet. Fives shook his head, staring at the ARC trooper in disbelief. It couldn’t be. It wasn’t possible. He had watched the shuttle explode with his twin stood on the ramp, with not enough time to get to safety. But shakily getting to his feet, with both Generals supporting him, was Echo.

As Fives stared at the impossible sight in front of him, he suddenly became aware again of the commando droids firing at them. Once Echo was close enough that Fives could see every small burn, scrape and bruise on his face, along with his brown eyes blown wide in shock. Surprisingly, instead of mostly feeling relief, Fives felt anger surge up within him. Anger directed at his twin. He was _furious_ at Echo, furious that Echo had needlessly risked his life. Needlessly rushed towards a shuttle they couldn’t even use to escape. Furious that Echo had almost gotten himself killed for _nothing_.

“Here,” he snapped at his wide-eyed twin, thrusting out Echo’s helmet to his twin. He watched through narrowed eyes as Echo’s shaky hands took his offered helmet and put it on. Hiding the shocked expression and injuries beneath the soot covered helmet. Fives had thought he could fool himself into believing Echo hadn’t almost been killed, but the soot covered helmet told him otherwise. He had almost lost his twin. He would have been the last Domino standing. Fives then turned away from his twin and immediately began discussing with Rex how they could get themselves away from the Citadel. Determined to forget the sight and feeling of believing his twin had died.

* * *

The bedraggled group finally made its way onto the Resolute. As the gunship they were on began the landing process in the Resolute’s hanger, Fives looked at the people around him. Rex and General Skywalker were checking on Master Piell and the men they rescued, Cody and General Kenobi looked exhausted as they stood so close together, they were the only thing keeping each other standing and sat to Fives’s right was Echo. His twin had taken his helmet off and had it loosely gripped in his hands between his knees and his brown eyes were blank as he stared at nothing. Fives felt his hands tighten into fists as he took another look at the injuries painted across Echo’s face.

The gunship juddered as it landed in the hanger of the Resolute. Once the doors swung open, the silent group began to disembark the gunship, all with their own destinations in mind. Although, Rex, Cody and the three Jedi Generals were probably on their way to inform the Council of their mission’s success. Fives remained where he stood, watching as Echo jumped when he realised the gunship had landed. Fives kept his helmet on, wanting to hide his face from view a little longer as he watched as his twin stiffly pushed himself to his feet. Fives hung back a few steps and watched as Echo limped his way off the gunship and stepped into the brightly lit hanger. Echo hesitated as he observed their vod bustlingly around the hanger, completing their jobs as normal, which Fives admitted was always jarring after returning from a mission like the one they’d just been on. The normalcy of the Resolute always felt foreign. After a pause Echo started to walk through the hanger, his helmet held loosely with one hand, if he knew Fives was following a few steps behind him, he didn’t show it. Fives removed his helmet and tucked it under his left arm and kept his twin in his sights.

Once they left the hanger and walked down one of the many identical corridors of the ship, Fives frowned when he noticed Echo wasn’t heading towards the medbay. So, he reached out and pulled Echo to a stop, ignoring the flash of worry at Echo’s small flinch. “Where do you think you are going?” he growled lowly.

Echo blinked at him in confusion, “to our bunkroom?” Phrasing his response as a question, as if he wasn’t quite sure what he was doing either.

Fives shook his head in annoyance and began dragging Echo behind him. “Di’kut, you need to get checked out in the medbay.”

“But I’m fine!” protested Echo, as he tried to prevent Fives from dragging him down the corridor.

Fives looked over his shoulder to glare at his twin, “you _are_ getting checked out by Kix.” He wasn’t sure what the expression on his face looked like, but he was relieved when Echo only nodded and let himself be dragged to the medbay.

They made their way through the ship in silence, Fives kept a tight gip on Echo’s wrist, not wanting to risk letting his twin out of his sight for a second. Echo obviously couldn’t be trusted with his own wellbeing. Something that jarred Fives, Echo was usually the responsible member of Domino squad, he planned things out to the last detail and always thought through his actions before he did them. So, for Echo to recklessly rush out to the shuttle was so out of character Fives didn’t know what to say. Getting Echo checked out in the medbay was a sensible decision and it also gave Fives chance to sort through his thoughts and feelings about the mission to the Citadel.

Once they reached the medbay, they found Kix already waiting with his arms folded over his chest. Their brother obviously already waiting for them. Kix jerked his head to the left and silently directed them into a small private room, the medic latched a hand onto Echo’s shoulder and began to push him onto the examination table, Echo looked as if he was about to protest being guided around. But one look in Fives’s direction and the younger Domino twin kept silent, his gaze trained on the ground and biting his bottom lip. Fives stood at the edge of the small room, partly to keep out of Kix’s way, and also to just give himself some space to just _breathe_.

“So, what happened to you? Rex didn’t give me any details, just said you needed to be checked over,” commented Kix conversationally as he began to examine Echo’s face.

Echo didn’t answer straight away, seemingly trying to think of what to say. But Fives knew his twin was about to downplay what had happened to him, so he answered for his brother. “He got himself caught in an explosion. He was stood on the ramp of our shuttle, our shuttle that got blown up,” stated Fives in a sharp voice. Echo looked up at him in mild betrayal, but Fives just stared back blankly, Echo darted his gaze away with a wince.

Kix flickered his eyes between them, obviously at a loss to explain the frosty atmosphere between the two twins, who normally were laughing and joking together. He then seemed to absorb what exactly Fives had said. “Wait. You were stood on the ramp of the shuttle that _exploded?!_ ” Echo nodded once; his eyes trained on the ground. Kix stood with his mouth hanging open in shock. “Vod…not that I’m not glad to see you basically unhurt. But how in all the Sith’s Hells did you just _walk away_ from an _explosion?!_ ”

Echo reached up with one hand to rub up and down his opposite arm. “General Kenobi pulled me back using the Force,” he replied quietly. Kix nodded and then began to apply bacta patches to Echo’s face, covering the scrapes and small burns dotted around. Any other time Fives would have laughed at the image of his little brother’s face covered in white bacta patches that sharply contrasted with his tanned skin tone. Echo sighed in exasperation, looking sorry for himself, as Kix applied five small patches to his forehead, another seven applied on both of his cheeks and one applied across the bridge of his nose.

Rather than laughing at his twin’s miserable expression, Fives was gritting his teeth in anger. Running the explosion over and over again in his mind. While he would always be thankful to General Kenobi for saving his twin, Fives couldn’t get over the fact that Echo had risked his life so severely, that the _only thing_ that kept him alive was the quick actions of a Jedi. If Echo had done what he did with no Jedi nearby, then he would have been killed and Fives would have been left alone.

Once Kix was finished and released Echo into Fives’s care, with strict orders for them both to get some rest. Fives turned and left the small private room without looking back at Echo once. Fives walked through the ship towards the ARC trooper bunkrooms, where their promotion afforded them a smaller bunkroom, which was barely big enough for the two single bunks in there, where ARC troopers were two to a bunkroom rather than ten men to a bunkroom. As he walked, he heard Echo’s shuffling steps behind him, but he was at yet unable to speak to his twin, knowing when he did talk, it would be better for it to take place in the privacy of their bunkroom.

The steel door to their bunkroom slid open and Fives stepped in, dropping his helmet onto the foot of his bunk, that was immediately to the left of the door. He then heard Echo step into the room behind him, before Echo could have the chance to put his own helmet down on his bunk, on the right side of the door, Fives was spinning around and grabbed Echo by the neck of his armour and then forcefully pushed his twin back and then pressed him up against the sliver of wall that was situated between the door and the edge of Echo’s bunk. Fives leaned his face close to Echo’s, his brown eyes boring into Echo’s. His twin was staring at him with wide eyes, his mouth slightly agape as the air was pushed out of his lungs, his breath a warm exhale against Fives’s cheek.

“What did you think you were _doing_?” growled Fives, even though his voice was quiet, in the small bunkroom it might as well have been a shout. “Actually, were you _even thinking_?!”

“Of course, I was!” protested Echo, as he pushed his hands against Fives’s chest. But Fives couldn’t be moved, not in the state of anger he was in. He still had one hand gripping the neck of Echo’s armour, but his other hand was pressed against the steel wall above Echo’s head. “We needed to get to the shuttle!”

“If you had waited you would have seen we couldn’t escape on the shuttle!” snapped Fives.

“I thought we could! I thought if I acted quick enough, then we could use it!” countered Echo sharply, his brown eyes hardening in refusing admit the rush for the shuttle was hopeless.

“You _know_ better than to act quickly!” snarled Fives. “You almost got yourself killed because you were being _reckless!_ ”

Echo pushed back against Fives, trying to create space between them, but the only thing he achieved was Fives pressing even closer. “Oh, so you’re allowed to be reckless, but I’m not. Is that it?” snapped Echo.

“I’m not so reckless that my only chance of survival is counting on the quick actions of a Jedi!” retorted Fives sharply. “If General Kenobi hadn’t been there you could have _died_ …” Fives coughed into his elbow to try and cover up the crack in his voice, but Echo heard it anyway. As Fives stared over his elbow at Echo’s bunk, in an attempt to hide his expression. He felt Echo pull his hands away from Fives’s armour and instead rested his hands on the back of Fives’s head and neck.

“But he was there, Fives. I’m okay,” soothed Echo, as he twisted his fingers in Fives’s dark hair and titled Fives’s head so they were able to look each other in the eye.

“But you almost _weren’t_ ,” whispered Fives, as he leaned his forehead against Echo’s. “ _Why?_ Why did you risk yourself so much?”

“Because I thought I could get everyone out of there,” confessed Echo quietly as he bit his lip uncertainly.

Then in sudden clarity, Fives knew exactly why Echo had acted so recklessly. Ever since the Rishi outpost attack last year, Echo had always felt that their three lost batchmates had more to offer than him, skill wise. And as such, Echo had spent the past year trying to, in his opinion, make up for his survival, as if he didn’t deserve to live. Ignoring the fact that Cody and Rex wouldn’t have made just anyone an ARC trooper. Fives realised in perfect clarity that Echo had run for the shuttle in an attempt to try and prove himself, and it broke his heart.

“Oh Ey’ika,” he whispered. Fives moved his forehead from leaning against Echo’s and instead buried his face in the crook of Echo’s neck, which was made difficult by Echo’s armour and pauldron. “Have I failed you so much that you still feel like you need to prove yourself?” he asked himself.

Echo jumped at his words and Fives felt Echo’s hands tighten in his hair. “You haven’t failed me! –”

“I have if you think you need to almost get yourself killed to prove to yourself that you deserved to survive the Rishi outpost attack.” Stated Fives, his eyes stinging as they began to well with tears. “Echo…you don’t have anything to prove. You are already one of the best of us.” Fives felt Echo begin to shake, so he lifted his head and stared his twin square in the eyes. “Your memory is _incredible_ ; Rex asks _you_ to help him plan strategies and you can assess a battle quicker than anyone else and make plans in response that _work_ …well…apart from today.” Fives smiled when he heard Echo snort in response.

“Maybe someday I’ll believe you,” murmured Echo, his lips tilted up in a half smile.

“Even if it takes time for you to believe me. Promise me, _promise me_. That you will _never_ put yourself in that position again,” ordered Fives, his hands shaking as he lifted them to rest on either side of Echo’s face. He then sucked in a sharp breath that whistled through his teeth, before he added. “Because…Ey’ika…I _cannot_ lose you…please don’t leave me here alone…” Fives sniffled, just the mere thought of losing his brother, his twin, bringing tears to his eyes.

Echo nodded, “I _promise_ Fives. I won’t leave you alone ori’vod.” In sheer relief, Fives pulled Echo away from the wall and tugged his twin in for a tight hug, burying his face in the crook of Echo’s neck again. “And if I ever start to do something reckless again, I give you permission to knock some sense into me.”

Fives snorted in amusement, “just don’t be reckless again and you’ll be safe from me.”

He heard his twin chuckle in amusement and then felt Echo tighten his arms around him. “I’m here Fiv’ika. I’ll always be here with you.”

“Just as I will always have your back Ey’ika,” promised Fives. They only ended their hug so they could take off their armour and left themselves in their blacks. They then curled up against each other on Echo’s bunk, just like they used to when they were small cadets. Fives was unwilling to close his eyes, even when he felt the pull of sleep trying to pull him under. So, Echo wrapped him tightly in his arms and only in the safe embrace of his twin, did Fives feel himself begin to relax, his eyes growing sleepy. He and Echo tucked themselves close together under the blanket, each seeking reassurance from the presence of the other. While Fives was feeling the pull of sleep, he only allowed himself to close his eyes once he noticed Echo had already fallen asleep. He smiled at the sight of his twin relaxed in sleep and after leaning his forehead against Echo’s once again and with a mumbled, “love you vod’ika.” Only then, did Fives allow himself to drift off into sleep.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will focus on the aftermath of Umbara and Krell.
> 
> Di'kut - idiot  
> Vod - brother  
> Vod'ika – little brother  
> Ey'ika – term of endearment of the Mando'a name for Echo, little Echo.  
> Ori'vod - big brother  
> Fiv'ika - term of endearment of Fives, little Fives.


	4. Umbara

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year everyone!!!🎆✨ I hope 2021 is a great year for you all!

Fives sighed in relief as he watched as the firing squad all dropped their blasters; he turned and shared a relieved look with Jesse once Rex ordered for them to be released. Sensing movement to his right, he turned his head and watched as the brothers who had been ordered to become the firing squad all turned away and ignored Dogma’s exclamations that they had to do as they were ordered. Fives shook his head, observing how Dogma clung to his loyalty to orders, it reminded him of Echo as a cadet, but his twin had never turned his sense of order and rules against his brothers. Thinking of Echo, Fives looked over Dogma’s shoulder and watched as Echo glared in his direction with his arms crossed over his chest. Fives winced seeing the furious look on his little brother’s face. He had purposefully left Echo out of the plan he conducted with Jesse and Hardcase, he had wanted Echo as far away from the risky plan as possible. Only six months ago he had almost lost Echo on the Citadel mission and hadn’t wanted to risk losing his brother again.

Once he had been released and after clapping Jesse on the shoulder, Fives slowly made his way towards his twin. The closer he got, the more hesitant his steps became, Echo didn’t move an inch, the thunderous look staying on his face, making Fives weary about getting closer. Once he was stood two steps away from his twin, his hands clasped nervously in front of him. “Echo…”

“What were you even _thinking_?” snapped Echo harshly, his brown eyes blazing with anger.

Fives felt his shoulders hunch forward, “I just wanted to save lives,” he murmured in reply.

“By getting yourself killed?” snarled Echo, his hands dropping to his sides and clenching into fists. “Hardcase has sacrificed himself and you and Jesse were almost executed!”

“It was a good plan!” Fives retorted, his chest tightening at the mention of Hardcase’s sacrifice. “Krell was going to get a lot of us killed!”

“And that makes it all worth it?” laughed Echo, but there was no humour in his laugh, it was filled with bitterness.

“Yes,” commented Fives seriously, looking up and meeting Echo’s furious gaze. He knew they had done the right thing and he would stand by his decision.

“If it was worth it, why didn’t you tell me before you, Jesse and Hardcase left?” asked Echo, a flicker of hurt passing through his eyes before his gaze hardened again.

“Because I couldn’t risk losing you, not again,” replied Fives, his voice thick. While remembering the moments he had believed Echo had been killed in front of him at the Citadel.

Echo shook his head, his brown eyes showing hurt and grief as Echo stared at Fives, a hurt expression on his face. “So, you were just going to make me watch as a firing squad of our own brothers was going to execute you.”

Fives jolted in shock and then felt shame as he realised what he would have left Echo to face if their brothers hadn’t refused to execute him. He reached a hand out towards his brother’s shoulder, “Echo…” but he just watched as his hand hung in the air as Echo pulled himself backwards, away from Fives, shaking his head. “Echo, just let me explain.”

“Don’t worry about it, I guess you had it all under control,” retorted Echo. Fives then could do nothing but watch as Echo turned away and put his helmet on as he began marching towards where the rest of the 501st had been gathered for the execution. He just watched as Echo’s back faded away from view, cursing himself for not thinking what he had put his little brother through. He would stand by his decision to not risk Echo’s life on the plan, his heart breaking at the mere thought of Echo standing beside him and Jesse in the line-up. Fives had always sworn to protect Echo and have his back, and that included making decisions that would protect Echo, even if it left his twin angry at him. His main reason behind disobeying Krell’s orders was the thought of Echo marching towards the heavily defended capital and dying just because their Jedi General refused to consider a different plan. He would feel guilty for the pain he had put Echo through, but he would never regret protecting his twin’s life.

“He’ll come around,” Fives turned and met Rex’s sympathetic gaze. Rex’s lips twitched in a half-hearted smile. “You should have seen him when you and Jesse were taken into custody. He was furious at me for letting Krell sentence you to death.”

Fives huffed an amused breath, “never get on the wrong side of Echo.”

Rex grinned, “he’s always underestimated.”

“Because he’s a rule follower. Everyone seems to think he’s like Dogma. But they don’t see the other side to him. Protective to a fault and more than happy to take part in pranks. I just get all the blame.” Commented Fives while shaking his head, thinking about all the times he got punished for pranks, but Echo had really been the mastermind.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” chuckled Rex as he grinned at Fives.

Fives rolled his eyes, “yes I know Echo is your favourite.”

Before Rex could reply, his commlink crackled into life. Fives gritted his teeth at the sound of Krell’s voice, the Jedi made him feel uneasy and he didn’t know why. He respected Generals Skywalker and Kenobi, why wouldn’t he? They always made sure their battle plans would ensure as many men would survive as possible. General Kenobi had been the one to save Echo at the Citadel. But Krell just made his skin crawl. Rex nodded at him before he turned and left, heading for wherever Krell had kept himself. Fives spared one more glance at the direction Echo had left in and then turned, walking towards the barracks to collect the top half of his armour. Sensing that Rex had been summoned because something was going to happen, and despite how angry Echo was at him, there was no way he was leaving his brother’s back unprotected.

* * *

Fives and Jesse were just leaving the barracks when there was a lot of brothers running around, with wild looks in their eyes. Fives reached out and pulled Stars to a stop, “what’s happening?”

Stars stared at him; shock reflected in his wide brown eyes. “Droids got hold of some 212th armour and they tried to sneak up to our lines! So, a couple of our patrols went out to stop them!” Fives let go of Stars in shock, he and Jesse shared a wide-eyed look before they put on their helmets and started running towards where they noticed a lot of their brothers were running towards a certain entrance to their base, guessing that was where the droids in 212th armour were trying to get in. As they ran Fives couldn’t see Echo or Rex anywhere, and realised that they must have been with the patrols fighting the droids. Fives’s heart pounded, he and Echo had never fought droids without the other beside them, Fives’s skin crawled at the thought of Echo fighting droids without him. The only comforting thought was at least Rex would be there, the only other brother Fives really trusted to watch Echo’s back. Once they reached the entrance, they heard blaster blots being fired, without communicating with each other, Fives and Jesse started running for where the fighting was taking place.

Once they reached where the fighting had taken place, Fives and Jesse slowed their running to walking as they took in the sight of their 501st brothers milling around. Some were sat on the hard ground, helmets off, as they stared at their hands, blasters abandoned by their feet. Others were stood, blasters dropped by their feet, brown eyes glazed over as they stared at nothing, tears silently slipping down their cheeks. Seeing a flash of gold, Fives spun around, his blaster raised, ready to cut down the droid that dared to wear another brother’s armour when he suddenly stopped and stared at the 212th armour in disbelief. It couldn’t be. It _couldn’t_. But staring him in the face wasn’t a droid wearing 212th armour. It was a person with an identical face to his own. Fives stared as other brothers emerged from the mist in 212th gold armour. “ _No_ …” he whimpered under his breath, it was a lie, it was _all a lie_. With sudden clarity Fives realised they had been played, all along the droids hadn’t stolen armour from the 212th, all along the patrols had gone out to face their brothers. In their shock, Fives and Jesse removed their helmets and limply held them in one hand, their blasters loosely held in their other hands.

“Osik,” muttered Jesse as he slowly turned where he was stood, so he could observe the crushing sight. Brother had been turned against brother. Unwillingly the patrols of the 501st and 212th had fought against each other with the intent to kill.

Desperately Fives turned his head left and right, looking for a particular face in an identical crowd of heart broken brothers. His heart began to pound and his steady breaths turned into panicked gasps. His gaze skimmed over the gathered faces in 501st blue, and as his eyes passed over each brother, but not finding the right one his chest began to feel tight and his hands began to shake. _Not like this, please Force not like this_.

Fives spotted Tup and ran towards his brother, all the while his thoughts circling. _It’s not him, where is he? He has to be alive; he **has** to be_. Fives reached Tup and any other day he would comfort his brother and try to get the horrified look out of his eyes, but at this moment Fives had a certain brother to find. His twin, the twin who was missing the _one time_ he wasn’t there to have his back. Fives reached out and gently shook Tup’s shoulders, “where’s Echo?” he demanded, his voice shaking. Tup’s shocked brown eyes looked up to meet his own, Tup swallowed as if he was about to speak, but couldn’t find the words. Silently Tup pointed behind him, looking past Tup’s shoulders Fives spotted a small group of huddled figures and so he ran. Distantly he was aware of Jesse speaking soothing words in a low voice to Tup, but right now that wasn’t Fives’s priority.

As he thundered over the undergrowth, his breaths still panicked gasps, Fives came to a sudden stop when the mist parted and the small group became figures he recognised. He stood in muted horror as Boil and the 212th’s head medic Patch were bandaging up a wound on Waxer’s shoulder, while Kix and Rex were knelt beside and over a figure in 501st blue. Fives began shaking his head in denial. _It wasn’t him. It **wasn’t**_. But as Fives crept closer, he recognised the patten on the ARC kama, he felt tears prick his eyes and his numb fingers dropped his helmet. At the sound of his helmet hitting the ground, Rex lifted his head and his brown eyes widened at the sight of Fives. The Captain was obviously trying to find the right words to say, but Fives was ignoring his older brother, because when Rex moved his head, he had gotten a good look at the fallen trooper and was met with a very familiar blue handprint painted onto a chest plate. “Echo…” breathed Fives, he pushed his way forward and heavily dropped to his knees beside his brothers as he stared at his twin. “What’s wrong with him?” he asked, voice cracking.

Rex rested a comforting hand on his shoulder but he couldn’t feel it. All he was aware of was the ashen colour of Echo’s face, the way his face was creased as he grimaced in pain, his eyes half closed as he tried to breath through the pain he was feeling. While Kix had removed the smaller armour plate that wrapped around Echo’s abdomen and side, Fives heard his blood roar in his ears as dizziness caused him to sway on his knees as he saw Kix’s hands covered in blood. _Echo’s_ blood. “He got shot when he pushed Lieutenant Waxer out of the way,” commented Rex, his voice was gruff as he was visibly trying to keep his emotions under control. “He and I realised what was happening at the same time and he saw Jostle aiming at Waxer, so the crazy di’kut ran and pushed Waxer out of the way.”

“’M no’ a di’kut,” slurred a painfilled voice. Fives chuckled wetly as he reached for Echo’s hand that was lying limply near his own. “Fives?”

Fives coughed to clear his throat, “I’m here Ey’ika, I’m here.” He felt Echo try to squeeze his hand, but his twin’s grip was weak, so Fives gripped Echo’s hand as tight as he dared, not wanting to risk hurting his already injured brother. “Always have to be the hero vod’ika.”

Echo pulled his eyes open and directed a weak glare at him, “not ‘ike yo’.” Fives snorted a weak chuckle in response, knowing full well Echo’s opinion on his hairbrained schemes and the joke he only did them to be the hero. Echo then jerked and groaned in pain at the movement after Kix did something, Fives glared harshly at Kix, his hackles rising at the person who was hurting his twin.

“Easy Fives,” murmured Rex as he lightly jostled Fives. “Kix needs to treat Echo.”

“Treating him, not hurting him,” growled Fives, his gaze flickered between Echo and Kix.

Kix just rolled his eyes at him, the medic clearly used to being on the end of protective ire from their brothers. Kix then leaned over Echo so he was in the wounded brother’s eyeline, “Echo I’m going to give you a hypospray, it’s going to knock you out. There’s nothing life threatening about your injury, but I am going to have you put in a bacta tank for a couple of hours just to prevent any complications or infections.” At Echo’s jerky nod, Kix smiled comfortingly, “hey at least being in a tank for a couple of hours you’ll be out of medbay in no time.”

Echo smiled in amusement, but his smile looked more like a grimace. “’specially when un’onscious.”

“There’s the spirit!” replied Kix with a smile. Fives watched as Kix administered a hypospray into Echo’s neck and squeezed his twin’s hand again as Echo slipped into a drugged sleep. Not for the first time Fives marvelled at how calm Kix was when he treated wounded brothers, Fives knew he would never be able to keep a clear head when treating his brothers, especially Echo.

Once Echo had been placed on a stretcher and was being taken back to the base with Kix and another medic. Fives picked up his helmet and clenched it tightly as his hands tightened into fists. Rex looked at him in confusion, “are you not going with Echo?”

“Where’s Krell?” Fives asked in a low snarl instead of answering, his anger towards the Jedi building.

Rex shook his head, “Fives –”

“Do _not_ tell me to leave it alone,” snapped Fives as he turned to glare at Rex. “That _osi'yaim_ is playing with us. He almost got Echo _killed_! Many of our brothers in the 501st and 212th are dead because of friendly fire. Because of Krell. So do not tell me you are going to let him get away with it.” Fives stepped closer to his Captain, so close their noses were almost touching, and hissed “if you let him get away with this, I will be asking for an immediate transfer for myself _and_ Echo to the 212th. I know Commander Cody would _always_ have our backs.” Outwardly, Rex didn’t react, but Fives was stood close enough that he saw the slight flinch as his words struck his Captain.

“Just go with Echo Fives. You are too angry and I don’t want to risk anything happening to you. I think Echo has been through enough today,” stated Rex. The Captain then pushed his helmet onto his head and began ordering the men back to base and gathered a smaller group to him. A group that also contained some of the men from the 212th. Fives nodded to himself, thinking it was only fair brothers from the 212th got to confront Krell and then ran to catch up with Kix and his twin. Once Echo was within his sight again, he felt himself relax, vowing to not let Echo out of his sight. They passed Tup and Jesse who were also on their way back to the base, Jesse blanched at the sight of Echo lying unconscious on the stretcher. Fives signed everything was okay to his brother and Jesse directed a small smile at him, before Jesse and Tup started to follow the group Rex had formed. A steely resolve in their brown eyes.

* * *

It was all over. Krell was dead and Dogma was on his way back to Kamino. Fives shook his head at the thought, he hadn’t gotten along with Dogma all that well. But Echo had always felt sorry for the trooper, seeing how he was pushed into the outskirts of the 501st, how no one really wanted to spend time with him due to his love of the rules and order. Echo had seen his cadet self in Dogma and would always try to include Dogma in activities when they weren’t on campaigns. Now Fives was left wondering what he was supposed to tell Echo once Kix removed him from the bacta tank. Fives looked up from his clasped hands as he shifted uncomfortably in his chair, he looked up at Echo as he swayed in the blue liquid, the wound on his side and abdomen healed. Fives just assumed the delay in taking Echo out of the tank was because Kix and the other medics were having to treat brothers who had fought against Krell. Fives sucked in a sharp breath between his gritted teeth, making a slight whistle. He felt grief for the brothers he had lost during the campaign, but he was beyond thankful that Echo had been spared. He dreaded to think what would have become of him if he had survived the firing squad only to lose Echo minutes later, without getting the chance to apologise to his twin.

Soon enough Kix came into the small room, and together they lifted Echo from the bacta tank, disconnecting the oxygen mask and lying him out on a medical bed. Kix checked Echo’s wound one more time, before he nodded at Fives and left the room, mostly likely going to check on his other patients. Fives then dragged the chair he had previously been sitting on to the side of Echo’s bed, he sat down with a sigh and rested his hand over Echo’s.

Fives was lost in his thoughts until a groan brought him back to the present. He looked up at Echo’s face and leaned close to his twin’s face. “Nice to see you awake,” he smiled at Echo as he ran his free hand through Echo’s dark hair.

Echo rubbed his free hand across his face. “Ugh, what happened?”

“Well, in Rex’s words you were a di’kut,” grinned Fives. He chuckled when Echo glared at him through his fingers. Fives then sobered and nodded, so he explained to Echo what had happened after the friendly fire incident, including Dogma being taken back to Kamino. They sat in silence for a minute, Fives’s early feelings of terror when he found Echo lying on the floor rearing its head and the thought that if Echo had been killed, he wouldn’t have had a last conversation to look back fondly on. “I’m so sorry Ey’ika,” he said, his voice catching.

Echo shook his head and sighed, “you were right Fives. Krell needed to be stopped.”

“But I shouldn’t have left you out of it. We’re a team and I was too much of a di’kut to think about how you would feel being left out of the plan and then seeing Jesse and I hauled in front of a firing squad,” confessed Fives. “N'eparavu takisit vod’ika.”

“I can’t stay angry with you Fiv’ika, I understand why you didn’t want me involved. The same reason why I was glad you weren’t caught up in the friendly fire incident,” said Echo with a small smile as he squeezed Fives’s hand.

“I can’t leave you alone for long can I vod’ika? Getting yourself into trouble,” grinned Fives.

Echo rolled his eyes, “at least I don’t get myself pulled in front of a firing squad.” Echo then shifted across the bed and Fives smiled as he pulled himself onto the small medical bed beside his twin, Echo turning over slowly so they were lying down facing each other. Wrapping himself protectively around his twin while Echo tucked his face in the crook of Fives’s neck, Fives felt himself relax even more at the reassuring weight of his twin resting against him. Thinking to himself that while he kept his promise of always having Echo’s back, he needed to bear in mind the consequences of his actions, not wanting his twin to be faced with something like the firing squad again. As he knew how he would feel seeing Echo pulled in front of a firing squad to be executed by their brothers after his twin left him out of the plan. It would break his heart if he lost his little brother in that way. So silently to himself, he promised to do better. He also promised to _never_ let Echo out of his sight again. While Echo had the reputation of the rule follower and would never step out of line, his twin was capable of getting into trouble and in the past six months Fives had almost lost his brother twice. _That_ was not going to happen for a third time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will focus on the control chip arc, but it will play into my AU verse of the Codywan series I have written.
> 
> vod’ika - little brother  
> osik - dung, impolite  
> osi'yaim - useless, despicable person  
> di’kut - idiot  
> N'eparavu takisit - sorry lit. I eat my insult  
> Ey'ika - term of endearment of Echo's Mando'a name, little Echo  
> Fiv'ika - term of endearment of Fives's name, little Fives


	5. Control Chips

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter overlaps chapter 5 of my Codywan fic [Everything the Light Touches](https://archiveofourown.org/works/27106777/chapters/66191191/).
> 
> This is the last chapter of this fic, but there will be about six more fics posted to this series. Two of which will be cross overs with my Codywan series as Fives and Echo have been popping up in a couple of fics in that series.

“Fives wait!” exclaimed Echo as he lunged for his twin and grabbed Fives’s arm tightly, his brother was still in his full ARC armour, apart from his helmet which was situated harmlessly on his bunk. “You can’t go running into the Senate and demand to speak to the Chancellor!” he pleaded, hoping his twin would listen to him. However, Fives shook him off harshly and turned to him with wide, wild brown eyes, the anger he felt at Tup’s death shining in his eyes. Echo just stood and stared at his twin; his hand outstretched in mid-air.

“I am not going to sit back and do _nothing_ ,” snarled Fives, “Tup deserves more than that. I would have thought _you_ would have at least understood.” Echo flinched at his brother’s words, never before being on the receiving end of Fives’s anger. At least not like this. In his moment of shock, Echo remained rooted to his spot and could do nothing as Fives stormed out of their bunkroom, probably going to march his way from the barracks that had been built just outside the Jedi Temple, and go to the Senate as he planned. Echo felt his chest tighten at the thought of his twin actually thinking that he didn’t want Tup’s death investigated. He just wanted Fives to be _smart_ about the situation, but Fives was letting his friendship with Tup cloud his mind and was letting his emotions control his decisions. Echo hadn’t been surprised when Fives wanted to go with Tup to Kamino, but while Rex, Fives and Tup went back to their home planet, Echo and the 501st were sent to Coruscant on the Resolute with General Skywalker. Two days later, while Echo was catching up on some reading in the ARC bunkroom trying to distract himself, Fives had come storming in, spitting anger about Tup’s death and control chips that were not designed to control aggression. Echo had tried to calm Fives down, but Fives took his words as meaning he didn’t care and decided to go to the Chancellor alone. Leaving Echo terrified, this was just Umbara all over again, when Fives had been sentenced to death by firing squad. He _needed_ to do something, otherwise he _knew_ this time Fives wouldn’t be so lucky and Echo would lose his last batchmate.

So, Echo ran out of the bunkroom, kitted out in his armour, looking for someone he trusted to help. As he ran through the barracks looking for Rex or Cody or one of the Generals. He was mainly trying to find General Kenobi, knowing he spent a lot of his free time at the barracks, and being on the Jedi Council he knew General Kenobi could be a lot of help. His heart was pounding, every second he wasted looking for help, Fives was a second closer to the Senate. He skidded around the corner in the bland grey corridor and sighed in relief when he spotted Rex talking with Generals Skywalker and Kenobi. As he ran closer to them, he realised they were talking about Fives’s erratic behaviour and the Jedi were clearly confused as to why Tup had died.

“Generals! Captain!” he shouted, the three men turning around to face him. Generals Skywalker and Kenobi looking at him worriedly, probably sensing his terror for Fives in the Force. “Fives investigated Tup’s death and I admit its suspicious but he’s gone to the Senate to confront the Chancellor!” He skidded to a stop in front of the three men, he caught Rex swearing under his breath and watched as his older brother rubbed a hand across his face. He knew he should add more detail, but figured Fives could explain it all himself once they stopped him going on a suicide mission.

“Rex contact Commander Fox _now_ and get him to stall Fives,” ordered General Kenobi as he squeezed Echo’s shoulder comfortingly. Despite wearing his armour, Echo could feel the comforting gesture and felt himself calm a little, guessing General Kenobi had done something with the Force to help calm him down. “The rest of us will go to the Senate.” Rex, General Skywalker and he all nodded in agreement and they began running out of the barracks. Echo and Rex putting their helmets on as they ran.

Echo was running alongside Rex and listened to the Captain as he talked to Fox, not sounding out of breath at all. “Look I’ll explain later, but please just stall Fives anyway you can. He _cannot_ find the Chancellor; Fives’s life depends on it. And I’ll tell you now Fox, Cody will not be pleased if you let one of his chosen ARC troopers get killed.”

 _“No need to threaten me with Cody vod’ika. Just make sure you explain everything later and I’ll make sure your di’kut ARC trooper makes it home in one peace,”_ commented Fox dryly.

As they ran, the Senate building getting nearer, Echo pleaded silently to the Force. _Please let Fox stop him, **please**. I can’t lose Fives, not like this_.

* * *

“No need to threaten me with Cody vod’ika. Just make sure you explain everything later and I’ll make sure your di’kut ARC trooper makes it home in one peace,” commented Fox dryly into his wrist commlink. He then ended the call and directed his patrols to every entrance and exit to the Senate, making sure his men understood they could only stop Fives with their blasters on stun. They were _not_ going to kill a brother. He made his way towards the Chancellor’s office, fully aware there were secret passages into the Senate building and knew he couldn’t station men at every standard entrance and every secret passage. And Fox only trusted himself in stopping Fives. Knowing his batchmate Cody and little brother Rex had chosen Fives to be an ARC trooper, said a lot about said ARC trooper and Fox knew he had to be prepared for the desperate trooper to do anything ranging from normal to insane to get to the Chancellor.

Fox had only just situated himself outside of the secretary’s office that then led into the Chancellor’s office. When he caught a flash of 501st blue painted onto ARC armour, guessing this was Fives, Fox readied his blaster but kept his helmet off in the hopes it would look less threatening and Fives would be more prepared to talk. He sent a ping from his commlink to Rex, letting the Captain know where he was and knew his little brother would understand he only sent the ping because he was with Fives.

“Hold it right there Trooper,” he ordered, his voice stern. Fox hoped the stern ‘Commander voice’ would be enough to get Fives thinking rationally again, but one look at the wild brown eyes as the ARC trooper got closer told him nothing was going to calm Fives down.

“I need to see the Chancellor,” stated Fives. Fox frowned, he hadn’t come across Fives much in the war, but he had heard all about Rex and Cody’s chosen ARCs and the angry voice combined with Fives’s shaking body did not match up with what Fox had heard about Fives.

Fox shook his head, “you are not seeing him like this.” Fox knew something was wrong with the Chancellor, he had indicated as much to High General Windu, with the Councillor promising to look into his concerns. But he knew if Fives went barging into the Chancellor’s office, he wasn’t sure Fives would be walking back out. Then he would have to put up with an angry Rex and a disappointed Cody. Yes, much better for himself and Fives if he kept the ARC trooper away from the Chancellor.

Fives swept towards him, his teeth barred as he stood so close to Fox their noses almost touched, and snarled, “ _move_.”

“No.”

The next thing Fox knew his blaster was on the floor as Fives rushed him and suddenly in the middle of the opulent Senate corridor, with its plushie carpet and expensive art lining the wallpapered walls, Fox was scuffling with the ARC trooper. He grunted as Fives kneed him in the abdomen, and while Fox was secretly impressed with how the ARC trooper was holding his own, he knew he was better. His Command batch had been trained by Jango Fett himself, and Fox wasn’t above using dirty tricks to come out on top in a fight. He reached his right arm around Fives’s back and struck his right elbow down on Fives’s back, causing the ARC trooper to grunt and bend forward, almost losing his balance from when he had kneed Fox.

Fives dropped to the ground and Fox saw Fives was about to kick his legs out from underneath him, so Fox rolled over the downed ARC and then hastily wrapped his arms around Fives, trapping him in a headlock, while he pinned Fives’s legs down with his own. He had to hand it to Fives, even thoroughly pinned, the ARC was trying to put up a good fight. He tilted his head hearing approaching footsteps and hoped he wasn’t about to have to explain his current position to a Senator. Thankfully, the footsteps sounded rushed and Fox’s suspicions were correct when running around the corner and heading towards him was Generals Kenobi and Skywalker, Rex and an ARC trooper Fox guessed was Echo remembering from Cody and Rex’s stories that Fives’s usual partner in crime was called Echo.

Instantly Rex grabbed Fives and hauled him to his feet and pushed him towards Echo. Both of Rex’s and Echo’s faces were hidden by their helmets, but even Fox could tell they were angry from their rigid body language. Once Fives had been pushed towards him, Echo tightly pulled Fives’s arms behind his back and began marching Fives out of the Senate as if his fellow ARC trooper was a prisoner. Rex then held out a hand and pulled Fox to his feet, “much appreciated Fox.”

Fox nodded, “just try to keep your ARC trooper under control while you are still on Coruscant.” Rex just nodded in reply and then started walking in the direction Echo had gone. Generals Kenobi and Skywalker thanked him and then followed the others out. Fox picked up his blaster, altered his men that the training exercise of a loose brother was over and to return to their previous patrols. Fox smirked to himself, he hadn’t wanted his men getting jumpy about an ARC trooper on the loose trying to get to the Chancellor, so framed the situation as a training exercise. But thinking about it, it was actually a good training exercise idea. He would have to talk to his other Command batchmates about asking them to send in some of their best troopers to try and infiltrate the Senate building without Fox warning his men it was happening. He sniggered to himself, the results could be interesting.

* * *

As Echo marched Fives towards the Jedi Temple, his worry for his brother faded away once Fives had been stopped by Fox. Now his worry was swiftly turning into anger, he walked behind Fives, continuing to push his brother forward as he kept Fives’s arms locked behind his back. Echo knew he was treating his twin like a prisoner, and right now Echo didn’t find it in himself to care. Fives didn’t seem to understand or care what consequences his suicide plan would have, much like his plan on Umbara and Echo had had enough of his smart twin continuing to enact half-thought-out plans that were sure to get him killed. Fives had had two lucky escapes and Echo knew his twin’s luck was soon running out and his own patience was wearing thin. Fives was trying to shake his grip off and was loudly complaining at him, but for the first time in his life, Echo completely ignored his twin outright, thankful his helmet was hiding his face.

Rex caught up with them and as he listened to Fives’s rambling, he took off his helmet to better look Fives in the eyes. Echo only paid attention to the details on Tup’s death and the control chips, he refused to listen to Fives’s demands to see the Chancellor. Once they reached the Jedi Temple, General Skywalker walked them around the side of the massive building, taking them to the secondary outside entrance to the Halls of Healing. Echo knew his General was trying to keep the situation quiet, which they couldn’t do with Fives complaining loudly if they were to walk through the Temple corridors.

General Kenobi directed Echo to a small meeting room just next to the secondary entrance and Echo practically threw Fives into the room, not caring if he had pushed his twin against the opposite wall with more force than was necessary. He stood in front of the shut door, tempted to lock it, but figured as they were in the Temple there were plenty of Jedi to stop his insane twin on his quest of stupidity. Echo stood with his arms crossed over his chest, he stood at attention and just watched his twin through the tinted eye slits of his helmet. On the other side of the door, he heard the Generals say they were going to look for a couple of Healers they trusted and on Rex’s suggestion, scan the Captain’s head for the chip Fives was rambling on about.

Fives groaned as he stood back up to his full height and rubbed a hand on his forehead, Echo guessed he had thrown his twin in such away Fives’s head had connected with the wall opposite him. Again, he didn’t really care right now. He flittered his gaze over the room, noting the emptiness of the room, apart from four old, rickety chairs. Echo guessed this meeting room was no longer in use from the sparse furniture and slightly peeling paint work. “Did you have to be so rough?” complained Fives, as he finally turned his head to look at Echo. Fives frowned as he took in Echo’s position and the fact Echo still had his helmet on his head. “Look, can’t you just relax? You don’t have to treat me like a prisoner.”

“Don’t I?” snapped Echo. A small part of him took pleasure at seeing Fives flinch and look at him warily. “In your state you are a threat to the Chancellor. Any trooper could have been given the order to put you down. So, until I am sure you are not going to storm back into the Senate. I will treat you how _I_ see fit.”

Fives shifted on his feet, his unease clear for Echo to see, as his older brother rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. “Yeah, not my finest moment. But I had to _try_.”

Echo heard himself growl in frustration. His twin wasn’t even acknowledging the risk he put himself in and it made Echo _furious_. He rushed forward and forcefully pushed Fives against the wall, one hand pinning Fives’s shoulder and his other arm pressed against the base of Fives’s neck. Through his helmet, Echo watched as Fives’s brown eyes widened in shock and felt Fives try and wriggle out of his hold, but didn’t succeed. “Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod?” he hissed.

“ _No_ , I do not want a smack in the face,” sassed Fives, as he continued to try and wriggle out of Echo’s grip. Still not getting anywhere, seeing as Echo pushed more of his weight against Fives. “Echo…” Fives gasped; the air driven out of his lungs. “Vod’ika…could you let me go?”

“Don’t you _dare_ vod’ika me _right now_ ,” spat Echo as he pressed Fives against the wall even more. “You messed up _big time_. You almost got yourself _killed_.”

Fives tried to wriggle out of his grasp again, his ARC armour scratching against the already peeling paint on the wall. “I had to _try_. For Tup –”

“Would Tup want you to die for him?” asked Echo, his voice as sharp as nails. “Would you _dying_ help Tup? Or stop whatever plan you uncovered?” Echo then lowered his voice, and in a harsh whisper hissed into Fives’s ear the best he could with his helmet on. “Because let me tell you something Fives. If you got yourself killed, no one would have looked into the chips, they would have thought you’d gone insane like Tup. The chips would be undiscovered and whoever designed them could set them off whenever they wanted. Rex, Cody, Jesse, Kix, me and all our other brothers would be left to live with the consequences. All because you _rushed ahead_.” Echo heard Fives whimper as he squirmed at the list of names, the brothers Fives would have left to deal with the chips alone if he died.

“Echo…” Fives’s brown eyes were wide in horror, as if he was picturing the horrifying future that Echo described. “I…I didn’t think…”

“Of course, you _didn’t think_ ,” snorted Echo derisively. “This isn’t the first time you rushed ahead and almost got yourself killed, di’kut.”

“Don’t act like I’m the only one who rushes ahead. You did at the Citadel!” protested Fives angrily, his expression turning into one of anger.

Echo growled as he shook his brother harshly, wanting to knock some sense into his twin, but figured Rex would disapprove if he bashed Fives’s head against the wall. “I made that mistake _once!_ How many times are you going to make me watch as you try and get yourself killed because you’ve acted too rashly? First against Krell? And then trying to threaten the Chancellor? When are you _going to stop_ _doing this_ Fives?” Echo heard his voice crack on the last sentence, all his fears swelling up within him as he backs of his eyes stung with tears.

Fives’s expression crumpled when he heard Echo’s voice crack and he tried to rest a comforting hand on Echo’s shoulder. “Ey’ika…” But Echo pulled himself away from his twin sharply, moving so fast Fives stumbled without Echo’s weight holding him against the wall.

“ _Don’t_ ,” snapped Echo as he turned his back on his twin, facing the door as he rested a hand against his helmet. “Just don’t.” He eyed up the door, wanting to just get out of the room, but not trusting Fives being left alone. Thankfully, seconds later Rex entered the room, within moments sensing the twins were at odds and said the Healers found a chip and were going to take his and Fives’s chips out. Sensing the out, Echo fled out of the room and marched into the waiting area of the Halls of Healing, not looking back at his twin once. He heavily slumped into the nearest chair, knowing he wouldn’t be able to stand for much longer. He bent forward and hung his head between his knees, finally taking off his helmet and hurriedly brushed away the few tears that had escaped.

He jumped when someone sat in the chair beside his own and tilted his head so he was looking up at General Kenobi. The General’s copper hair looking darker in the dimmed light and a sympathetic frown on his face. “Brothers can be difficult, can’t they?” he stated more than asked. Echo snorted, knowing General Kenobi thought of General Skywalker as a brother and knew exactly who Kenobi was talking about.

“Especially when their idiots sir,” he softly commented. Kenobi snorted in agreement and after stating the short operation to remove Rex and Fives’s chips would take ten minutes, the two of them just sat quietly, each lost in their own thoughts. Echo guessed the mildly horrified look on Kenobi’s face was because he was thinking about Cody having a chip in his head as well. And Echo knew once Cody found out, the Commander was going to be a wreck until his chip was taken out, seeing as Cody and Kenobi were in a relationship.

Echo looked up when a green twi’lek Healer, who he learned was called Healer Corra, gestured them towards the recovery rooms. Echo stood and took a deep breath, part of him ashamed of how he lost his temper at Fives, but the other part of him was still simmering with anger. General Kenobi just clapped him on the shoulder and gently pushed him towards the room Fives must have been put in.

* * *

Fives blinked awake and found himself staring at the cream painted ceiling. He wanted to be glad he was right, he wanted to celebrate the fact that Tup didn’t die in vain and they would be able to start de-chipping all of his brothers. But he wasn’t glad. All he could think about was Echo’s furious voice and his twin’s anger, he had wanted to push back, not wanting to admit he was wrong. Yes, he might have scared Echo, but his twin had scared him a lot to. But then he thought about what Echo said would have happened if he died. All of his brothers would have become nothing more than flesh droids, muttering to themselves ‘good soldiers follow orders’ like Tup. And Fives’s heart broke at the mere thought of smart, kind and brave Echo turning into a blank slate.

He slowly sat up on the medical bed he had been placed on while he slept off the sedative. His feet dangled off the edge of the bed, as he tightly gripped the bed sheets, just thinking about how closed off Echo was. The fact his little brother kept his face hidden should have clued Fives in on how angry Echo was. Everyone assumed Echo was easy going, and he was, up until a point. But if you got on Echo’s bad side, then you would get a good look at his temper. Fives had only seen his twin loose his temper twice, now three times, in their entire lives.

Hearing the door creak open, he looked up and was met with the tired and saddened face of Echo. Fives breathed a sigh of relief just for the fact that Echo wasn’t wearing his helmet. “I’m so sorry Echo,” he said, his voice breaking at the saddened look on his twin’s face. Twice now, he had put his twin through hell and he hoped to the Force he would _never_ do it again. “N'eparavu takisit.”

Echo heaved a deep breath as his face creased in grief. “ _Please_ never do that to me again. I _can’t_ do that again Fives.”

“I _won’t_ ,” he promised. He lifted his hands up and held them out in an offer of a hug, not pushing his twin. Knowing with the afternoon’s events he had no right to push Echo anymore than he already had. Echo’s expression fell even more and he rushed across the room and practically threw himself into Fives’s arms. Fives ignored the fact that he was only dressed in his blacks and had Echo’s armour digging into his chest. He didn’t care. His twin needed reassurance and that was exactly what he was going to give him. Echo buried his face into the crook of Fives’s neck, ignoring the uncomfortable angle it put his back in as he leaned into his twin’s space. “I won’t leave you Ey’ika, _I promise_.”

“You better not Fiv’ika,” muttered Echo, his voice quiet due to his face still pressed against Fives’s neck. Fives smiled as he tangled his fingers in Echo’s dark hair, as he began to gently rock them from side to side. Feeling the tight grip Echo had of his shirt, Fives rested his chin on Echo’s head as he hugged his brother tighter, sensing how scared Echo had been. He knew their greatest fear was losing the other, of being the last Domino standing, and his actions had rattled Echo deeply, twice now.

After a few minutes, Echo slowly pulled himself back and gently tugged Fives so he was standing and after a shared small smile Echo led Fives out of the room. They followed Rex and General Skywalker into an office, where they found Generals Kenobi and Windu and two Jedi Healers, Healer Corra who had taken Fives’s chip out and Healer Eerin who had taken Rex’s chip out. It turned out they were all waiting for Cody to arrive, so they could explain to him and General Windu the situation of the chips. Fives and Echo put themselves in the back corner of the office, trying to take up as little space as possible, feeling like they were invading Healer Corra’s office. Fives stared at the two chips on Healer Corra’s wooden desk and only tore his gaze away when he felt Echo squeeze his hand. He looked up and smiled at his twin.

“ARC Trooper Fives,” he turned his head so he could meet General Windu’s dark gaze. “Thank you for investigating the chips. I’m only sorry you were given them in the first place and sorry the Jedi didn’t find out sooner.”

Fives smiled at the usually stern Jedi Master. “Thank you, sir. I’m just glad we can do something about it now.” General Windu nodded and smiled at him, they then all turned when Cody entered the office, even though Cody was wearing his helmet as he came in, Fives could tell the Commander was confused.

He stood in the corner, remaining silent as General Kenobi began to answer Cody’s question and then Echo added his side of the story as well. Fives winced as he listened to his twin explain how he went looking for help when it was clear Fives wasn’t going to listen to him. Feeling guilty and ashamed, Fives wrapped his arms around his twin in a protective hold, silently telling Echo he was sorry and he was never going to do something like that again.

Then he could do nothing for the next ten minutes as Healer Corra took out Echo’s chip and Healer Eerin took out Cody’s chip. Fives was a nervous wreck as he stood at the edge of the room, even with General Kenobi’s comforting arm resting on his shoulders. Soon, the operation was over and he followed Healer Corra as she directed Echo’s stretcher into the same recovery room, he had been placed in. He dragged a metal chair close to the side of the medical bed and just watched as his twin slept off the sedative.

He reached out and rested a hand on Echo’s cold hand, he frowned and began trying to rub some warmth into his twin’s hand. Hearing a soft groan, he stopped and turned his head towards the top of the bed and watched as Echo blinked himself into awareness. “Is it gone?” Echo asked, his voice soft and slightly gravely from the sedative.

Fives smiled reassuringly and leaned close to Echo’s face and gently tapped on the side of his brother’s head. “All gone.”

Echo breathed a sigh of relief and smiled up at him, “one less thing to worry about.”

Nodding, Fives sucked in a deep breath, trying to banish away the thoughts of what could have been, but knowing he wouldn’t relax until at least all of the 501st had been de-chipped. Knowing if orders came through the chip and he and Echo didn’t follow them, they could be at risk from the brothers still chipped, who might try and kill them as ‘threats’. He shook those thoughts away and smiled down at Echo, “thanks for having my back vod’ika.”

“Always ori’vod,” smiled Echo. But then his twin’s smile turned into a smirk. “But you owe me for this one.”

Fives rolled his eyes, “what do you want this time?”

After thinking for a few moments, Echo’s brown eyes brightened. “Your pudding cups for a month.”

“A _month?!”_ he exclaimed, about to refuse, seeing as the pudding cups were the only good edible things they always got at meal times. Then he saw Echo’s face, and remembered the grief he had just put his little brother though. And in the great scheme of things, not having pudding for a month was a small price to pay for Echo keeping him alive and ensuring knowledge of the chips was given to the right people. “How about for two months?”

“Done!” grinned Echo, as he lifted up his hand. Fives chuckled as he shook his twin’s hand, knowing Echo wanted them to shake on it in case he tried to back out of his deal. Seeing the pleased expression on his little brother’s face, Fives knew he had gotten the better end of the deal between the two of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Di'kut - idiot  
> Vod - brother  
> Vod'ika – little brother  
> Ey'ika – term of endearment of the Mando'a name for Echo, little Echo.  
> Ori'vod - big brother  
> Fiv'ika - term of endearment of Fives, little Fives.  
> Copaani mirshmure'cye, vod? - are you looking for a smack in the face, mate?  
> N'eparavu takisit - sorry, lit. I eat my insult


End file.
